Brighton Pavilion 1.1.26
This was a short break intended to spend a few days in Brighton to see in the New Year. We stayed in Drakes Hotel which has wonderful views of the seafront and the Pier and some pretty steep stairs to the rooms – given the age of the building there is no lift!
The new year celebrations are in the Grand which is a modest walk down hill on our way there. At 1am it is a far less speedy walk back up the slope (it can hardly be called a hill) to our hotel – but the two flights of stairs nearly do for us when we do get there.
Sleep is broken but we cascade downstairs anticipating a completely different day to the one which happens. Jackie had booked tickets for the Royal Pavilion this morning – but when we get there it is closed and locked up. The tickets are checked and definitely say 1 January. Eventually a disembodied voice tells us that they are closed for the day.
We walk into the Lanes and after a coffee note that Brighton Morris men and women and children are gathering for a display so we get a drink from the adjacent hostelry and await the entertainment – which eventually draws quite a crowd.
Our next destination is the Pier. The much promised waffle outlet is not open but the Palm Court restaurant at the end of the Pier is and serves an excellent portion of whitebait and chips for a very good price. Great value for money with an Irish coffee to warm the insides as well.
In the evening we walk along the front again – this time our destination is “The Salt Room” a well regarded restaurant immediately adjacent to the Grand Hotel and therefore easy to find. We all chose the chicken main course and it was excellent accompanied with some chips and tomato salad. Very pleasant environment and good food so a great evening.
Brighton Pavilion 2.1.26
The following morning we head back to the Pavilion and the management sort things out rapidly refunding our tickets and granting free entry. Whilst the ground floor has not changed since our last visit neither Jackie or I recall being able to go upstairs where some of the restoration story is told. Queen Victoria felt that Brighton was too busy to be a suitable holiday residence for her growing family so largely removed the interior decoration and sold it to the local council (as then constituted) for initially £53000 but when the empty interiors were discovered they sought a refund – which amounted to £3000! Restoration to close to late Georgian decoration took the second half of the twentieth century and I would wager cost much more than £3k. However it is very well done.
Pavilion Music Room 2.1.26
After a bite of lunch we go the theatre for Sunny Afternoon – the Kinks musical where we are reminded of the song writing of Ray Davies. It is some years since we saw the original West End production and it is certainly very effective. A great entertainment.
In the evening we dine at Dilsk – the restaurant in the basement of Drakes Hotel although it is independently operated. Good but not as outstanding as we had hoped – but still pretty good halibut and I liked the opening mushroom custard – but not to everyone’s taste.
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